Beyond Good & Evil

"Evily Good..."

Michel Ancel the creator strikes gold again with Beyond Good & Evil. The game is a hybrid of action adventure mixed in with some RPG-like interaction elements like dialogue boxes to speak with the game characters and the people inhabiting the world. You play the character of Jade a Action Reporter/Photographer who makes her living by producing various photographic reports on commission. Throughout your missions you'll be collecting pictures of animal species to gain money and pearls. Pearls are the currency to buy parts for your vehicles from the Mammago boys (your friendly rhino mechanics) to help you further advance in the game. For transportation you'll be driving a hovercraft made by Pey'j. Pey'j is your warthog uncle that will tag along and help you throughout the game. He also fights alongside you with his special boot attack which is quite amusing. You'll be facing the evil Alpha sections that are involve with the alien forms called the Domz. With your keen reporting skills it's your job to expose them to the inhabitants and make them revolt against this corrupted government. On to the review...

Graphics: 9/10

Very stunning from the opening cutscene to the very ending. The game is quite stunning even with it's low polygon characters and buildings. The game makes good use of slow motion blur effects in the cutscenes which looks really impressive. The water effects is also very well done. You can see the reflections of the other ships and planes from away and the amazingly made sun effect is stunning. The lighting effect of the early day to mid day to the dark night seems just like the real world which is cool. They outdone themselves in the graphics department.

Sound: 10/10

Very top notch. The sounds are well done such as the voice work of the characters. Every characters voice sounds excellent and it fits there characteristics very well. The ambient sounds such as the background radio in the beginning of the game makes you fell like your really in the game. Also when your riding along the world the ocean sound effects sound just like the real thing from the waves splashing in the distance to the birds chirping from afar. The music in the game is very beautiful. The composer really did a good job of making tunes that fits the game well.

Controls: 8/10

Controls of the game is standard with no real problems. You can run, crouch, auto jump when it's appropriate (like in Zelda OoT), a use button to use your items, and a attack button along with a special attack button for your partners special attack, and a dodge button to counter enemy attacks. The only iffy part of the controls is the camera. Sometimes the camera can give you problems especially in battle. When your fighting a group of enemies for example the camera can move real close to you which causes problems to fight when all you see is particle effects of your weapon and the enemies plus your partner likes to fight right next to you in tight areas, not giving you much room to see things. Overall the controls are pretty good except for the few camera issues.

Gameplay: 8/10

The game plays like a standard action adventure with a few twist. You can interact with the inhabitants like a rpg, giving you certain information that may be vital to you. The game is something like the Zelda Ocarina of Time game but your friends tag along with you to help you through the game by battling enemies alongside you, helping you with certain situations and obstacles in the game. The game involves a little collecting of both pearls and animal pictures. You find them throughout the game so it's not like a hassle to find them plus you can always visit the already visited areas if your missing anything. Some areas in the game involves some stealth action to get pass certain enemies guarding certain areas. It's a nice little addition to the game. You'll never get bored when playing because there's always something to do like collecting animals or pearls or playing the games mini games like racing your hovercraft with other racers trying to beat the best time or playing some crazy air hockey board game at the bar of a area in the game.

Replayability: 7/10

The games only downfall, it's fairly short. You'll get between 13-15 hours out of the game before you beat it. The games official web site does offer more missions to do so that adds a little more to the game but it's not much.

Conclusion: 8

The game takes the best part of adventure gaming and adds its own unique twist to it, resulting in a excellent and well polished game. Don't pass this one up!

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 01/03/04